


The World's A Scary Place

by JayOrLex



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 3
Genre: F/M, It's not entirely that either, Tagged it anyway, Violence in here isnt that graphic, it says major character death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-17
Updated: 2019-07-17
Packaged: 2020-06-29 22:39:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19839976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JayOrLex/pseuds/JayOrLex
Summary: Miranda's been stitching Butch up her entire life, he'd always been just fine.The Wasteland always has a way of proving you wrong.





	The World's A Scary Place

Looking back on it, Miranda almost laughed at the sick irony of it.

It wasn't Raiders, Super Mutants, Deathclaws, or any other danger the wasteland entailed that struck down the mighty Butch DeLoria.

It was a damn loose board.

_

Miranda shoved her way through the boarded door, steadying herself on the doorknob before she went flying facefirst into nailed wood. She stood up straight, nodding at her work as she ushered her three companions in. "It looks to be clear, we can sleep here tonight."

"Oh, thank GOD. I cannot tell you how much the Butch man needs his beauty sleep." Butch brushed past her and to the corner of the room.

They'd been out of the safety of the concrete floor and steel walls of the vault for several months now, but Butch never did understand the concept of 200-year-old wood. Miranda always joked that his obliviousness was going to kill him someday.

She should've just kept her damn mouth shut.

"Hey B, be careful, the wood's-" She heard the break before she saw it. Before she had a chance to warn Butch, grab on to his outstretched hand, the floor caved beneath them and she saw him slip out of her sight and plummet to the ground as if she were in a dream.

She stood there for what felt longer than the three seconds it took her to start screaming. She felt herself being forcefully shoved back outside as Charon almost tackled her on the ground. He gave one look to Dogmeat, and the dog understood as he blocked the entrance with his body as she tried following Charon back inside.

Her body was numb, her head swimming with silence she promised she'd never be used to when she was around Butch. It swallowed her, pushed her to the ground, filling her lungs and stung at her eyes. Dogmeat whined at her, but still stayed at the door, butting the toe of her boot with his head.

She didn't acknowledge it, couldn't acknowledge it as all she saw playing in her head at the command of the devil himself,were his beautiful blue eyes filled with panic, the sickening crunches and thuds of not only his body, but thousands upon thousands of wooden boards falling to the floor on top of him.

It took her far too long to realize she hadn't breathed yet. Much to her dismay, they came. Long, deep. A luxury she dared not think on, but secretly knew, Butch didn't have anymore.

The sound of the door opening and boots scurrying down the steel steps jerked her head up. Maybe he'd made it. Maybe it was him, bounding down the steps. Maybe.

It was Charon, holding the limp, bloodied and pale body of Butch effortlessly in his arms. His steps slowed dramatically as he neared her, stopping short just a few steps away as he looked straight in her eyes. As carefully as she'd ever seen it done before, he set Butch's body down in front of her. "I'll let you say goodbye."

That was the final shot to the heart as she crumpled to the floor, sobs racking her entire being. Charon said nothing as he walked, leaving them alone.

She blinked away the tears in her eyes as she looked over to his face, bloodied from a nasty cut on his head. All color gone from his skin now, his mesmerizing blues hidden behind closed eyelids. With a strength she didn't even know she had, she crawled over to him, grabbing his hand in hers as her head collapsed into his chest.

The welcoming warmth of his chest and calming rhythm of his heartbeat she'd taken for granted, they were gone now. All that was left was a vacant, cold, dead silence.

Dead.

Butch DeLoria, the love of her entire life, the only thing she had left in this world, had the nerve to die before her.

She sat up, wiping the tears from her eyes as she glared at his closed eyelids. "How fucking dare you." His lack of response, while expected, made her bite harder on the inside of her cheek. "I told you to be careful, how much of an idiot do you have to be not to check the integrity of the ground you'd be stepping on before you pranced in."

She almost heard his condescending tone now. _You said it was okay, Nosebleed._

"Yeah, and since when did you ever start listening to me?" She shook her head, still staring at the ghost that was his face. "You weren't supposed to go, you bastard. Not without me." Another sob racked her body. "You promised."

_You could always try, you've done it thousands of times before._

She blinked the tears down her cheeks, sitting up on her knees and cupping her hands over his chest as she pushed and pushed. She shook her head vehemently as Charon, even Dogmeat tried to coax her out of it. "He promised he'd be with me until we were _both_ ready." She cast another glare at Butch. "I'm not ready yet, you fucking dick." Long breaths to his parted lips now. "You'd better fucking come back."

Eventually, Charon had given up trying to stop Lone and instead helped her, taking over compressions as she gave everything she had in her lungs to his. 

The minutes dragged on long. 5 minutes passed in what felt like 3 seconds. Then another 10. 15.

Charon shook his head, eyes boring through Lone's. "Mir-"

"Don't." She shoved him out of the way, taking compressions. "If you won't help, leave."

And he did. She didn't care to see where he went as she desperately worked.

"My mom. My dad. My brother. My best friend. Your best friend. Jonas. Paladin Cross. They're all gone." Her hazy eyes never left his face. "I'm not about to add you to that list, Butch DeLoria. Not when we've come this far." 15, 16, 17. "You don't get to leave me all alone, too."

_Looks like you're just gonna have to deal with it, MandaBear. Told you you'd miss me._

Fatigue finally struck her body, and she collapsed beside him. "I can't do this without you." Her hand felt blindly across the dirt until she found his, wrapping her fingers around his and drawing circles into his palm. He used to do this, every night when her dad came to visit her in her dreams. It'd chase her nightmares away. She didn't want him to have bad dreams, wherever he was going. So she circled and circled, the silence so deafening around them as the tears stuck to her face.

She squeezed his hand, about to finally let him go when the tiniest little squeeze came back to her own hand. Her eyes popped open wide, scrambling to sit up as she hovered over Butch. "Please tell me I didn't just imagine that."

She watched as his eyes began to slowly move under his lids. His lips parting. "You really think I'd actually let you get away with calling me a dick?"

She cried anew as she laughed, brighter and fuller than she ever had before as she enveloped him in thousands of kisses and hugs. She glanced up as his eyes were in lieu of opening to smile brightly at Charon. He came racing toward them now.

She looked down now to see those blues she'd thought she'd never be able to see again gazing wonderfully at her now. "When I said I wanted to sleep, this is not what I meant."

She rolled her eyes, pulling him in for one last longing kiss before she backed away and let Charon pick his brittle body up, racing back to the medical bay at Rivet City.


End file.
